Deaf Population of the United States

Deaf-related Resources

Frequently Asked Questions:

Statistics:
Deaf Population of the United States

Deaf people, as deaf people, have not been counted in the U.S. Census since 1930. The last census of the U.S. deaf population was privately conducted in 1971, sponsored by the National Association of the Deaf. For figures since then, only estimates are available. See Introduction to Deaf Statistics for a short discussion of the problems of and cautions about deaf demographic statistics.The best current estimate of the total U.S. deaf population is probably that in Table 1 of Holt and Hotto, Demographic aspects of hearing impairment: questions and answers, published by the Gallaudet Research Institute and reproduced below. This publication is available online at http://gri.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/factsheet.html, and the following two tables are extracted from this publication.

Note that the Gallaudet Research Institute conducts demographic surveys only for deaf and hard of hearing children of school age. It does not manage surveys of the adult deaf and hard of hearing population. Nonetheless, because of repeated inquiries, it has developed its own rough estimates based on 1990-1991 data:

	“Have hearing problems” (includes both deaf and hard of hearing)
Total U.S. population: 235,688,000	20,295,000	8.6%
Children (ages 3-17): 53,327,000	968,000	1.8%
Ages 18-34: 67,414,000	2,309,000	3.4%
Ages 35-44: 38,019,000	2,380,000	6.3%
Ages 45-54: 25,668,000	2,634,000	10.3%
Ages 55-64: 21,217,000	3,275,000	15.4%
Ages 65 and over: 30,043,000	8,729,000	29.1%

How many of the above 20,295,000 are specifically deaf and not hard of hearing? Note how the numbers in the Gallaudet Research Institute’s figures, below, change depending on which of three different definitions of “deaf” is used:

Deaf (definition: “in both ears”	421,000	0.18%
Deaf (definition: “cannot hear and understand any speech”	552,000	0.23%
Deaf (definition: “at best, can hear and understand words shouted into the better ear”)	1,152,000	0.49%

The Gallaudet Research Institute offers additional breakdowns of these figures in Demographic aspect of hearing impairments: questions and answers, third edition, http://gri.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/factsheet.html#Q1/.

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The U.S. Bureau of the Census has its own estimates for both hard of hearing and deaf people, based on extrapolations and statistical manipulation of a 1994-1995 general survey.

This is the latest information available as of June 2004. By that date, the disability statistics from the 2000 U.S. Census still had not yet been analyzed and published to the necessary degree of detail.

Source: Extracted from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/disable.html (seen on 3/25/1999 but apparently no longer available online).

Note that the U.S. Census Bureau identifies two levels of hearing impairment: “have difficulty hearing normal conversation” (what most people would call “hard of hearing”) and “unable to hear normal conversation” (what most people would call “deaf”). Estimated numbers were rounded off to the nearest thousand. Also note: When using this data, it must be remembered that it is not based on any actual counting of deaf people, and could be different from reality. Note further that the Census Bureau’s figures do not include children aged 16 and under.

	Have difficulty hearing normal conversation		Unable to hear normal conversation
U.S. total population over 16: 267,665,000 (100%)	7,966,000	3.8%	832,000	0.4%

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The National Center for Health Statistics, also a U.S. federal agency, offers very different numbers based on its 2001 National Health Interview Survey. As with the U.S. Census figures, these numbers are not based on actual counting but on statistical extrapolation from a sampling survey. These are derived from what is supposed to be a “representative sample of households across the country” for the “civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States,” some 100,761 persons in all. The big difference between these two U.S. government agencies in figuring total U.S. deaf population is unexplained.

Note also the NCHS’s different definitions for levels of hearing impairment, and that its age cutoff also differs: only persons age 18 and over were included.

	“A little trouble” hearing		“A lot of trouble [hearing] or deaf”
U.S. total population over 18: 199,617,000 (100%)	25,128,000	12.58%	6,103,000	3.05%

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The private agency Project HOPE Center for Health Affairs (now folded into the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago, NORC) published its own estimates based on analyses of other organizations’ national surveys conducted during the early to mid 1990s.

	(No estimates of “hard of hearing” persons)		Have severe to profound hearing loss (usually called “deaf”)
U.S. total hearing impaired			500,000
Children (ages 3-17)			40,000	8% of above 500,000
Adults 65 or older			270,000	54% of above 500,000

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Additional discussion of the differing statistics and different sources is in the Gallaudet Research Institute document at http://gri.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/deaf-US.html.

For demographics of individual U.S. states and territories, click here.

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Prepared by Tom Harrington
Reference and Instruction Librarian
July, 2004

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